Kucinich rally draws 1200 to school
Originally published in the Pioneer Press
Posted on Wed, Oct. 15, 2003
MINNEAPOLIS: Kucinich rally draws 1,200 to school
BY BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich brought his long-shot presidential campaign to Minneapolis on Tuesday night, telling an enthusiastic crowd he is the peace candidate who can get the United States out of Iraq and reunited with the world community.
Speaking to a standing-room-only audience of more than 1,200 boisterous supporters at Roosevelt High School, the four-term Ohio Democrat said he is running to "put an end to war."
"It is time for the United States to end the occupation of Iraq," he said. "It is time to get the U.N. in and the U.S. out of Iraq."
Although he has been running for eight months, Kucinich formally declared his candidacy Monday in Cleveland, where he launched a four-day, 12-city announcement tour.
Asked why he stopped in the Twin Cities, which will play only a minor role in selecting the Democratic nominee, he replied, "Minneapolis is a center of progressivism in American politics."
He said that the late Hubert Humphrey ? a Minneapolis mayor, U.S. senator and vice president ? was an inspiration in his early political career and that the late Sen. Paul Wellstone's work "continues through this campaign. ? I do everything I can to keep his legacy going."
"This campaign is about fundamental change," he said. "I'm not trimming around the edges here."
Kucinich, 57, is perhaps the most liberal ? and the most passionate ? candidate in a crowded Democratic presidential field. He and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean are the staunchest critics of President Bush's Iraq policy, and the congressman is an outspoken advocate for a government-run universal health care system, workers' rights, universal preschool day care and repeal of the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act.
In his fiery, 18-minute speech in Minneapolis, he focused on foreign policy, saying he would vote against Bush's request for $87 billion to rebuild Iraq.
Instead, he said, he would enlist the Untied Nations to take over the peacekeeping duties. He would do so, he said, by assuring the world community that the United States would "give up any ambitions for Iraq oil" and letting the United Nations handle all construction contracts. "No Halliburton sweetheart deals," he said.
As president, he said, he would create a cabinet-level Department of Peace to apply the principles of nonviolence to combat domestic and child abuse and violence against racial minorities and gays and lesbians.
He said he also would cut the Pentagon budget and use the savings to provide health care, education and jobs for all Americans.
A political prodigy, Kucinich was elected to the Cleveland City Council at 23 and mayor of that city at 31, the youngest-ever mayor of a major U.S. city. But he plunged Cleveland into financial default rather than sell a city-owned electric utility as demanded by banks and was defeated after one term. He staged a political comeback in 1994 by winning a seat in the Ohio Senate and was elected to Congress two years later.
After the speech, Kucinich said that although he trails in the polls and fund raising among nine Democratic candidates, he believes he can become a contender through superior grass-roots organization.
"Look at this turnout here today," he said. "It's the people. When they're united, they're never defeated."
Although Kucinich hasn't won as much support among Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor establishment as Dean or U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, he has some influential backers.
The state's highest-ranking DFL legislator, Senate Majority Leader John Hottinger of St. Peter, endorsed Kucinich.
Asked why he is backing a candidate with little chance of winning, Hottinger replied, "It was oft said about Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, too. ? Ideas launch candidacies, not public relations."
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